Iran considering development of own cryptocurrency
23 Feb 2018
Iran's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) minister announced this week that Iran is seeking to create a state-issued cryptocurrency.
The move would see Iran follow in the footsteps of Venezuela, which like Iran, is also under US sanctions.
Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran's ICT minister, tweeted early Wednesday New York time that state-run Post Bank is working on developing a cryptocurrency.
"In a meeting with the board of directors of Post Bank on digital currencies based on the blockchain, I ... prescribed ... measures to implement the country's first cloud-based digital currency," Jahromi said, according to a rough Bing translation.
Meanwhile, Iran's central bank has spelt out a different stance from the previous pro-Bitcoin government announcements and is now looking to ''prevent'' cryptocurrency, a report published by the Iran Front Page news site said on 21 February.
An article in local newspaper Iran quoted online by Iran Front Page cited the Central Bank of Iran describing cryptocurrencies as ''highly unreliable and risky'' this week.
The bank, according to press sources, is now ''cooperating with other institutions to develop a new mechanism to control and prevent digital currencies in Iran.''
According to commentators while details remain patchy at this stage, if the report is accurate, the central bank's tone contrasts sharply with reports last November which said the cryptocurrencies were getting a warm reception in Iran.
At the time, regulatory body, the High Council of Cyberspace said the rules should be in place to ensure the secure operation of assets, in line with various jurisdictions worldwide.
''We welcome Bitcoin, but we must have regulations for Bitcoin and any other digital currency... following the rules is a must,'' Cointelegraph quoted secretary Abolhassan Firouzabadi as saying.
Meanwhile, Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro said late Tuesday that the country's oil-backed "petro" cryptocurrency has raised the equivalent of more than $735 million.